Automatic door opener



, Aug. 19, 1930. w. SYKES 1,773,124'

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER Filed Nov. 26, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug 9,1930.w. SYKE v 1,773,124

" AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER Filed Nov. 26, 1928 Z'SheetS-Sheet 2 1 l I 25 lf1 l Patented Aug. 19, 1930 UNITED STATES WILLIAM SYKES, OF ROCKFORD,ILLINOTS AUTOMATIC DOOR OPENER Application filed November 26, 1928.Serial No. 321,822.

My invention relates to mechanical door openers for garages and thelike. While it is applicable to the larger doors of commercial garagesas well as small ones connected with the residences, it is particularlyapplicable to the latter because of its small initial cost and negligblemaintenance cost. Although satisfactory devices operated by compressedair or electricity have been perfected and used to a considerable extentupon doors of commercial garages, they have been too high in initialcost and in cost of operation to become available generally to the smallcar owner for his private garage. In addition these are, in most cases,rather complicated devices the repair and operation of which requiresskill beyond that possessed by the average car owner and involves, inconnection with a single car, labor and inconvenience greater than doesmanual operation of the doors. V

Yet the utility of a simple device for this purpose is indisputable. Themotorist returning to his garage on cold winter nights would not becompelled to approach to within a short distance of the garage doors andthen get out of his car, wade through snow, perhaps, then fumble withthelatch, and finally, after getting the doors open, wade 0 back to the carthroughthe snow. Again,

in rainy weather he would not be required to expose himself in openingthe doors nor in going to and from them for the purpose.

-Therefore, the general object of my inv'ention' is to produce amechanical door opener for garages which may be operated bythe driver ofa car without leaving hisseat behind the wheel.

Other objects are opener of simple and sturdy construction, whichiseasily and cheaply constructed, and which may be operated practicallywithout cost once the initial installation is made.

Still further objects and advantages of my construction will be evidentto those skilled in the art from the description and claims togetherwith the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is an elevation ofdouble doors to the provision of a door the inside of which my inventionhas been applied;

Fig. 2 is a section substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1 showing thelatch and latch lifting mechanism Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 ofFig. 1 showing a top view of the latch and door stop;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the latch;

Fig. 5 is a top view of a door with'the opening mechanism attachedtheretoshowing the closed position in dotted lines;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 5 showing the guide rodcollar, and

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7? showing the manner in which theswinging arm is attached to the guide rod collar.

Referring more particularly to the latch releasing mechanism shown inFigs. 1,2, 3

and 4, a releasing bar 9 is attached to the inside of a door 10 by meansof two bolts 11 as shownin Fig. 1. The door in this instance swingsoutwardly and is hinged at 40, Fig. 5. lVhile the exact location of thebar is not important I have found it advantageous to have it near thecenter of the doors for reasons which will become apparent. The barhangs loosely from the bolts 11 to permit it to swing to and from thedoor. A bumper plate 12 ontheoutside of the door is attached to thereleasing bar through a rod 13 which passes through a small opening inthe door. This rod is givena slight curvature corresponding to the areupon which it moves in order that it may pass through the opening in thedoor without striking the sides. The length of the rod is such as topermit the bar 9 to move between a position shown in Fig. 2 and thatshown in Fig. 4 as will presently be set out. The elevation of the bumper plate is such that it will correspond with the I elevation of thefront bumper of the automobile used. It may, on the other hand, be madesufiiciently large to accommodate all makes of cars withoutchange. Aneyelet or slot 14 is placed in the lower endof the bar and is adapted toreceivetherein a latch or pawl 15. y The latch 15 isattachedto the doornear its bottom edge, directly below the releasing bar m taolied to thefloor of the e s m. a

' and in a position to cooperate therewith as shown, by means of abracket 16 and a pin 17. A stop 18 is provided to prevent the latch fr mdroppin down and dragging. The latch is provided with an inclined edge20 alon which the eyelet 14 of the releasing bar isaajdtdslidcramllchlflintowhich 1 it is a ted to rest lifting the nodeh 21 the latchfree from a projecting ledge 22 at-- U age by means of I lag screws 23.A bracket g is attached to the floor in a position to stop the inwardmovement of the door. "It will be seen thatin orderv to releasetheposition to cooperate with the angle 35 in a manner shown in Fig. 6 toprevent the door from being blown shut by wind while in the openposition. The ends 37 of the bar are headed to prevent them fromslipping from the supporting openings in the angles. Aroundthe guidebar, and bearing between the guide bar collar 3i and the supportingangle 86, is a spiral spring 39.

The door swinging mechanism is assembled as shown in solid lines in Fig.with the angle 35 near the end of the guide rod and in a position tocooperate with the return stop 38* The angle 36 is then attached to thedoor 15 hid; the operator of an automobile need only the lip tothcgaregedoor until its bum er strikesthe bumper plate. The plate fillmoved-inward fiorcing the release bar @M AS t bar moves in dotted linesthe spring will be brought an it s e elet @F the low! end 9? p underconsiderable compression which will be i f i and M the sufiicient tocause the door to swing about eeeeaaas mehvneoaslyh g the latch and itshin 'es 40 when the latch 15 is released. be r m t latching ledge hWhile ii 5 shows but a single door, it will 2- P 51 "91 the blrirom beapparent from Fig. 1 the manner in which as fi f' h thus held P theswinging mechanism is mounted on p 'ilfle The bumper double doors. Thesame parts are used in the assembly for each door.

rpd is adjusted in? h to limit the move- The manner of operation ofdoors embodyn'len't er the ar eyelet to the notch i h h when the latching my invention is very simple. The 0 erator drives his automobile upto the our and forces the bumper plate inward raising 10 at a pointwhereby the spring 39 is placed under suliicient compression to actuatethe door. It will be seen that when the door is then brought to theclosed position shown theflecr swinging mechanism showifbestlniig; 5causes the doors to swing 111 the latch and releasing e doors. When thedoors'are thus released the door swinging assemblies, the springs ofwhich are unuer compression when closed, cause the doors to 1 swingopen. In the meantime the o erator has reversed his automobile farenough to permit the doors to 0 en. As the doors reach their openposition t e inner angles 35 come under the return stops 38 which acttohold foe them open against moderate forces such as the wind.

It will be observed by those skilled in the mechanism may be attached tothe doors any desired elevation at Riit'has round convenient to attachascr be to is out (with way in 1 Referring now articutogs. f has swingiarm isats t'o the-{face a! each di'fir sill 26 by a}, i 4" Q'fliaving anend 28 bent qxlghtangles to the bodyportion and a aapassm gh rethrou n.The arm as "It In r "ifitwigte g right art that the cost of constructinmy im h p y proyeh p 1 9. 5. 2 g t gt gfgment 1S Ve1?y50W. Noflexpensii'e or hardened m a, p parts are use except esprings most of the I 91 thebar parts being capable of manufacture from j egs. 4 band or strap iron.The operation of my in a i p h l gm 9 vention is. exceedingly simplerequiring no H t-. gg h fi l fine ad ustments or complicated mechanism 3ye en 0 t swmging and, therefore, results in a sturdy construci i r 31fonsists of a P tion. Although I-have described it as ape p a g bar 33plied to gtaraggiiocrs and operapllebby means i i ng l with, rim 34 ateach and 0 an au omo 1e umper it we e evident that the invention isapplicable to swinging doors applied to other structures such as barndoors, furnace doors, and the like where the latch may be operated bythe feet or. hands of the operator.

While I have described in detail for purposes of illustration aparticular embodiment of my invention I am aware that numerous changesmay be made in my construction without departing essentially from 1:9

pthssidntp receive the end The central de resigsa hl txwifib ft n the ie58 m an snwfias l' movement A geeiswithinfgthe, depression as the doorgfluide bar 33 is a gauna"ssmogh baigsslijgablyangounted 01p thg a a, 15an 6 at one en plate 38 having a 65. epressed center. spttahed to thearm in a the spirit of the invention-or the scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim: v

1. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a releasingbar attached to the inside of the door and hanging loosely therefrom, abumper plate outside of the door attached to said bar by means of a rodpassing through the door whereby horizontal movement of the bumper plateresults in corresponding movement of the releasing bar, a latch loverpivotally attached to the door near the'bottom edge thereof adapted tobe lifted by inward movement of said releasing bar, a projecting ledgeattached to the sill beneath the door adapted to cooperate with saidlatch in maintaining the door in a closed position, and means attachedto the floor for stopping the inward movement of the door.

2. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a releasingbar slotted near one end and at the other end attached to the inside ofthe door through a plurality of bolts which permit movement of the barto v and from the door but do not permit substantial movement parallelthereto, a bumper plate and rod attached to said bar, said rod passingthrough the door, a latch supporting bracket attached to the door nearthe lower edge thereof in a position to cooperate with said releasingbar, a latch pivoted on said supporting bracket and resting in theslotted end of said releasing bar having an under edge tapered towardeach end with two notches interposed between said tapered portions, thetapered portion and notch at the pivotal end of said latch being adaptedto cooperate with the releasing bar in lifting the latch and supportingthe same in an open position, a ledge attached to the door sill beneaththe latch to cooperate with the tapered portion and notch at the freeend of the latch in raising the latter and locking the same when thedoor is closed, and a bracketattached to the floor for limiting theinward movement of the door.

3. In a door opener, means for unlatching door comprising a releasablemeans for normally holding the door in a closed position, a releasingbar attached to one sideof the door and hanging loosely therefromarranged to engage said releasable means, and means positioned at theopposite side of said door adapted to be acted upon by a vehicle forcausing said releasing bar to release said releasable means whereby saiddoor may be moved to an open position.

4. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a releasingbar attached to the inside of the door and hanging loosely therefrom,means outside the door for actuating said releasing bar by anautomobile, a latch having a portion attached to the door and a portionattached to the floor near the door, the portions of said latch beingarranged to be drawn from contact by said releasing bar to permit thedoor to be opened, and means for stopping the inward movement of thedoor.

5. In a door opener, means for unlatching a door comprising a bumperplate on said door adapted to be actuated through contact with thebumper of an automobile, a latch having a portion attached to the doorand a portion attached to a stationary body near the door, said portionsbeing arranged to engage each other in holding said door in its closedposition, means for preventing the inward movement of said door Whensaid bumper is brought into contact with said bumper'plate and meansactuated by said bumper plate for drawing the portions of said latchfrom contact to permit said door to be opened.

In witness of the foregoing I aflix my sig-' nature.

WILLIAM sYKEs.

